Committee Members Absent

Item 1 Call to Order

Item 2 Approval of the Minutes

Chair Hicks asked for a MOTION to approve the minutes for March 12, 2007. The MOTION was offered by Trustee Crawford and seconded by Trustee Gonzalez. The minutes were accepted as presented.

Item 3 Open Comments

There were no comments from the public.

Item 4 Tenure

Chair Hicks asked Provost Workman to speak about this item.

Provost Workman spoke about the tenure review process, discussing how it ensured that candidates met criteria appropriately. He noted that each candidate was reviewed by colleagues within the department, the chair, the dean, the University promotion and tenure committee, the Provost and the President.

Provost Workman stated that this year’s pool was indeed a strong group of candidates. He noted that of the 24 candidates, 3 were being tenured by reason of appointment and would be coming in at advanced ranks with distinguished scholarship.

Chair Hicks asked for a MOTION to approve all tenure nominees simultaneously. A MOTION was offered by Chair Taylor and seconded by Trustee Gonzalez. After no further discussion, the MOTION was approved as presented.

Item 5 Florida Equity Reports

Ms. Monell noted that the Board of Governors’ staff recommended to the State University System that the format for this report remain unchanged. She presented highlights from the report, mentioning that there were three major sections – appropriate student participation in programs or courses where protected classes are underrepresented; appropriate student participation in athletic programs, by gender; and appropriate representation of women and minorities in senior-level administrative positions and in tenured and tenure-track positions.

Ms. Monell presented a review of academic program, including enrollments, retention and graduation rates, and degrees awarded. She stated that the University was continuing with efforts to reach out to underrepresented populations.

Ms. Monell spoke about Florida Community College transfers, noting that data confirmed stability in this category. She pointed out that the budget shortfalls might impact the future numbers of underrepresented populations. She stated that the University would review historical data to determine significant fluctuations and address these as needed.

Ms. Monell provided details regarding retention and explained that first-time-in-college (FTIC) students tracked over a one-year period showed some fluctuations among blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans. There was an overall retention rate of 78.6 percent. She noted that black students increased from 73.7 percent to 81.4 percent; Hispanics dropped from 81.5 percent to 70.9 percent; and Native Americans increased from 55.6 percent to 64.3 percent. She mentioned that the University would continue to monitor FTIC retention rates to see if patterns emerged.

Ms Monell presented particulars regarding graduation rates, with data based on a cohort of students over a six year period. She stated that the overall graduation rate for all students was 46.4 percent, with Asians graduating at 53.2 percent; Native Americans at 50 percent; whites at 47.3 percent; and Hispanics at 46.5 percent. Ms Monell pointed out that the largest discrepancy in graduation rates was with black students at 36.6 percent. She noted that the University would continue to track all graduation rates for all students, with a concentrated and systematic effort to monitor progress.

Ms. Monell provided a brief discussion about number of degrees awarded, including bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. She noted that because of the way data was collected, it was difficult to track variations.

Ms. Monell spoke about compliance with equity statutes or non-discrimination on the basis of race, gender, national origin and marital status, or disability. She noted that the University was in full compliance with equity requirements in all areas.

Ms. Monell stated that this section related to gender equity in athletics. She noted that the University had focused attention on this, not just for the FEEA Report but also as part of the NCAA Division I certification. She pointed out that the University was in compliance with respect to 10 of the 11 programs with improvement needed in the availability of facilities, specifically private locker rooms for women’s swimming and diving. Ms. Monell stated that the athletic director had placed this as a top priority.

Ms. Monell presented measures regarding the representation of women and minorities in selected faculty and administrative employment categories. She noted that out of 1,626 permanent employees, 54 percent were female, 16 percent were black, 5 percent were Hispanic, 5 percent were Asian and less than 1 percent was Native American. Ms. Monell stated that over the past five years, the University had seen significant increases in all minority groups and females. She noted that the University would continue to track these numbers and identify major shifts that might be of concern.

Ms. Monell concluded her report stating that, overall the University continues to make steady progress in diversifying the campus with respect to enrollments and employment, and also continues to monitor gender equity to assure compliance with Title IX.

Chair Hicks offered trustees opportunity to discuss the Florida Equity Reports. Trustees asked for details about the Academic Roadmap initiative. The administration stated that this initiative would be in place fall 2008 and would provide every student with a detailed map of requirements for curriculum, and would included tracking mechanisms. It was noted that an effort would be made to track students with needs for financial aid.

This item was presented for information only. No further action was required.

Item 6 Repeal of Regulation (Student Records – Accessing)

Chair Hicks asked Vice President and General Counsel Stone to report on this item.

Vice President Stone stated that the purpose of this request was to repeal a regulation, adopted in 1993, addressing student’s right to privacy and access to their records. She clarified that this repeal was an effort to establish and implement a newly promulgated policy that was current and in accordance with present University practice and procedure. Vice President Stone presented the newly promulgated policy to trustees and stated that it included current and best practices and represented a legally sound and great model.

Trustees asked for clarification on the vetting process for the policy. The administration stated that the policy did go through the promulgation process and received no comments.

Trustees asked for clarification on the timing of the policy’s promulgation. The administration clarified that the new policy would be placed on the books simultaneously with the full Board’s proposed repeal of the regulation, at the June meeting.

Trustees clarified that the MOTION from this Committee would be to ask the full Board to repeal that the existing regulation with the understanding that it would be replaced with the newly promulgated policy.

Chair Hicks asked for a MOTION for approval of a recommendation to the full Board that the existing regulation be repealed. The MOTION was offered by Trustee Gonzalez and seconded by Trustee Abdullah. The MOTION was approved with the understanding that the regulation would be replaced with the newly promulgated policy.